Scientists are trying to pinpoint the impacts of global warming on Himalayan glaciers and regional water supplies. Photo courtesy Nasa Earth Observatory.

Staff Report

FRISCO —In the worst-case global warming scenario, glaciers in the Mt. Everest region — the roof of the world — could shrink between 70 percent and 99 percent by 2100, scientists said this week, waring of dire downstream consequences for millions of people who rely on water from those ice fields.

FRISCO — Melting Himalyan glaciers may not be causing a direct rise in sea level, but in some cases, the water is causing lakes overflow, flooding valuable agricultural land.

Glaciers are important indicators of climate change. Global warming causes mountain glaciers to melt, which, apart from the shrinking of the Greenlandic and Antarctic ice sheets, is regarded as one of the main causes of the present global sea-level rise.

Tibet’s glaciers have been losing mass at the rate of about 16 gigatons per year for the past decade. That loss is spread across about 80 percent of Tibet’s glaciers, according to Tobias Bolch, a glaciologist from the University of Zurich. That’s more than four times the volume of water in Lake Zurich and around six percent of the total loss in mass of all the glaciers on Earth. Continue reading →

A new study finds a decline in snow and ice on Mount Everest (second peak from left) and the national park surrounding it. Photo courtesy Pavel Novak.

FRISCO — Even at the frozen roof of the world in the mighty Himalaya, global warming is evident.

The snow line in the Mt. Everest region has moved uphill by 180 meters (590 feet). Glaciers in the region are shrinking, some by as much as 13 percent in the past 50 years, and precipitation has declined, according to a team of scientists who will present their findings this week at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancún, Mexico.

Glaciers smaller than one square kilometer are disappearing the fastest and have experienced a 43 percent decrease in surface area since the 1960s, according to Sudeep Thakuri, who is leading the research as part of his PhD graduate studies at the University of Milan in Italy. Based on the detailed measurements of satellite images, the pace of melting speeding up, Thakuri said. Continue reading →

SUMMIT COUNTY — After significant warming during half century, about 10 percent of Bhutan’s glaciers are likely to disappear within the next few decades — even if regional and global temperatures were to stabilize at current levels.

Rupper’s most conservative findings the amount of melt water coming off these glaciers could drop by 30 percent. Increasing temperatures are just one culprit behind glacier retreat. A number of climate factors such as wind, humidity, precipitation and evaporation can affect how glaciers behave. With some Bhutanese glaciers as long as 13 miles, an imbalance in any of these areas can take them decades to completely respond. Continue reading →

Some glaciers have expanded in the past decade, but concerns remain about growing glacial lakes in the region

Retreating mountain glaciers in Bhutan. This satellite image shows the termini of several glaciers in the Himalayan mountains of Bhutan. The glaciers have been receding over the past few decades, and lakes have formed on the surfaces and near the termini of many of the glaciers. IMAGE COURTESY NASA.

Some glaciers in the Karakoram Range have grown slightly in the past decade, according to a team of European researchers who recently completed one of the most detailed surveys of the region to-date.

But there are still valid concerns about variability that could leave some valleys dry, at least on a seasonal basis.

“The majority of the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking, but much less rapidly than predicted earlier,” said Tobias Bolch, of the University of Zurich and Dresden University of Technology. Continue reading →

A SECMOL volunteer sits atop one of our buses as we wait for the pass to open.

By Garrett Palm

Oxygen deprived, I mistake the older, leather-clad German couple’s “Sprechen sie Deutsch?” as asking if I speak Dutch. I sing a happy birthday song in the wrong language, learned from my mother, which they greet with polite, confused laughter. Continue reading →

Glaciers in the Himalaya appear to be in a downward spiral, melting under the onslaught of global warming.

Water supplies threatened, flooding risks also growing

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — U.S. Geological Survey scientists recently teamed up with colleagues from around the world to thoroughly survey the glaciers of Asia, and the news is not good for millions of people who rely on runoff from those high mountain zones.

Many of Asia’s glaciers are retreating as a result of climate change, the study concluded. The rapid melting of the glaciers will impact water supplies across huge areas, increase the rate of sea level rise and heighten the likelihood of sudden floods.
In Bhutan, 66 glaciers have receded by 8.1 percent over the last 30 years. Continue reading →

Thanks to clean record for the last two years and a revamped NFL drug policy, Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller has been discharged from the league's drug program and will no longer be subject to multiple tests a week, an NFL source confirmed.

Sunday brought an uptick of intensity to the Broncos' training camp . On the eve of the first padded practice of training camp, the first "fight" broke out between defensive end Derek Wolfe and offensive tackle Ryan Harris.

TURNBERRY, Scotland (AP) — As Inbee Park hunted down Jin-Young Ko in the final stretch of the Women's British Open, it quickly became clear which South Korean was the rookie and which was the player about to add another chapter in golf's record book.